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An Exploration of Female Adult Adoptees' Experiences: Their Self-Concepts of Parenthood

Parenthood is generally marked as a joyous event, though some research indicates that the birth of a child can possibly involve a difficult and complicated adjustment period for
new parents (Ceballo, Lansford, Abbey, & Stewart, 2004). Questions regarding heritage and biological ties typically occur after developmental milestones, for example, births, marriages, and deaths, for adult adoptees. Horowitz (2011) offered that in order to understand the
uniqueness of adoptees’ experiences and the specific needs they may have during childhood, it is vital to study the entire adoptee trajectory into adulthood, in order for adoptive parents and society to prepare successfully and launch adoptees into adulthood. This study explored how
adult adoptees view parenthood through the lens of their own upbringing in Canada. There are gaps of information in the literature on how adoptees undertake parenting and how they approach becoming parents. In addition, how adoptees recognize themselves in their own children whether their children are adopted or not and how adoptees bond with their children. This study is an effort to address this gap offering recommendations for future research.

Using an attachment theory framework while employing a mixed methods approach through an exploratory-sequential design, highlighted results include: adult adoptees struggle with identity issues and their adoption experiences do impacted the way they become parents and how they view themselves as parents.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:ecommons.usask.ca:10388/ETD-2015-05-2050
Date2015 May 1900
ContributorsClaypool, Timothy
Source SetsUniversity of Saskatchewan Library
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, thesis

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